Mother's Day Flowers
by Paul P.S. Sullivan
Summary: One-shot story. Katara feels sad and Aang cheers her up. Yes, it's short, but I hope you guys like it.


Mother's Day Flowers

"Hey, Appa!" Aang shouted excitedly to his bison, pointing towards the green field upon the mountainside. "Let's land there. I bet there's a lot good grass and stuff to eat." The bison bellowed, possibly in affirmation.

"Hey, Sokka, Katara, Momo!" Aang turned towards his fellow passengers atop Appa, the brother and sister pair from the South Pole water tribe and the fan-eared lemur. Momo was chattering and looking curiously at the quiet Katara atop a rather irate Sokka, when the three looked up. "We're coming in for a landing!"

"About time," Sokka said, trying to tear off the scrambling Momo, "this stupid rat-monkey is driving me crazy-ow!" Momo had tangled his claws in Sokka's topknot and tried to pull them out, tearing out a few strands of hair along with them. Aang chuckled as Momo leapt from Sokka's head to the little boy's shoulder.

"Hang on!" The Bison descended, gliding along the grassy slope and landed with a soft thud. Aang leapt off Appa's head and went into a rolling summersault, tumbling down slope and landed on his back, laughing happily. "Come on, you guys! It's fun!"

"Not now," Sokka shouted, sliding down Appa's tail. "I'm going to scout the area, look for food, keep an eye out for Firebenders."

Aang brushed himself and ran up the hill, arms spread like a bird. He leapt onto the saddle and crouched down next to Katara. "Wanna go tumbling with me?" he asked, eagerly.

"Maybe later," Katara said, quite despondently. Aang cocked his head, curious. Expecting a smile to appear, the Waterbender had instead a sad look upon her face.

"What's wrong?" The young Airbender asked.

"Nothing, I just need some time by myself," Katara replied, not looking up. "Why don't you go help Sokka?"

Aang frowned, but, looking up to find Sokka downhill near the tree line, he leapt off of Appa and glided towards tree line, bumping into Sokka and knocking him down.

"What is with you?" Sokka sputtered, agitated. Aang just smiled innocently.

"Katara wanted some time by herself," the boy explained, "and I decided to go with you!"

"Fine," the teenager sighed with frustration, "but just don't wander off too far."

"You can count on me," Aang nodded. "I'll stick by you, follow wherever you-SQUIRREL!" Before Sokka could reply, the young boy darted between his legs and up a tree, blissfully pursuing a tiny and especially fluffy squirrel through the forest.

"AANG!" Sokka yelled, dogging the hundred and twelve year-old boy. "For the love of, argh, I hate baby-sitting."

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"Told you squirrels lead you to good stuff," Aang said to Sokka, cradling small acorns in his shirt. "They taste pretty good when you roast them."

Skeptically, the teenager picked up an acorn, placed it in his mouth, and began chewing. No sooner did he bite down, he fell to his knees, gagging violently.

"You ate a green one," Aang replied. "They're not ripe, so they taste bitter."

"You could have told me that BEFORE!" Sokka yelled, scraping his tongue off in vain. Aang frowned slightly. Sokka's face softened, though his lips pursed. "Okay, I'm sorry I yelled at you."

"It's okay," Aang smiled once more. "I think I saw some fruit along that way." Aang pointed behind him. Sokka rose and followed Aang. A few feet later, they came across a clearing with gnarled trees, bearing lumpy red and green apples. Sokka knelt down and picked up one of the fallen apples. It was mostly red, save for one side with a light brown bruise. The teenager bit into it and smacked his juice-covered lips, tingling from its sweet tartness.

"These taste pretty good," Sokka said.

"Of course, they do," Aang grinned, elevating himself upon a bubble of air and plucked apples off the branches rapidly. "Let's take some back for Katara. They'll make her feel better."

"Hmm?" Sokka bit into his apple some more. "Oh, yeah."

"Why is she sad?" Aang asked, hovering back down.

"She lost her chocker," Sokka explained. "Leave it to girls to get all depressed over jewelry."

"I asked her about it the other day," the little boy said. "She said it was from her mom. Maybe she can get another from her..." His head sunk into his shoulders as he remembers. "Oh, I forgot."

"She's dead," Sokka finished Aang's thoughts. The boy looked at Sokka repentantly.

"I didn't really know my mom, so I wouldn't really know what…uh, Sokka, what are moms like, again?"

Blinking for a moment, Sokka then stretched. "Well, mothers are women who, um, take care of kids and love them and make sure nothing bad happens to them."

Aang plopped on the ground, legs crossed, and scratched the back of his smooth head. "Mothers are women," he mused aloud. "Katara's a woman…" He could hear Sokka scoffed, biting into his apple. "She takes care of me…"

"That means," the boy's eyes widen as he reached a strange moment of enlightenment, "Katara's my mom!"

Sokka began to chock and sputter upon hearing this. "Wha- hold it! Katara's not your mom!"

"I know she's not my real mom," Aang explained evenly, "but she's like you said moms are." Suddenly, the Airbender dashed away, dropping acorns and apples along the way. Sokka had a bewildered look upon his face.

"Aang!" he called after him. "Aang, what the heck are you going! Aang!" No reply came from the young boy. The frazzled teenager hung his head sulkily. "What did I do to deserve this?"

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"What do you get your mom?" Aang contemplated as he hovered up and down on his bubble of air. His eyes came across a bundle of violet clover blossoms growing beneath him and he smiled as an idea popped into his skull. "Hana gave flowers to his mom and I bet Katara's never seen flowers before!"

Propelling the bubble, he sped across the field, scanning the patches of flora that appealed to him and, hopefully, Katara.

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Katara stroked Appa's fur, the massive bison lowing contently. Momo was curled on her lap.

"Oh, you like that, boy," she cooed. She sighed, still preoccupied. "I had it when I went to sleep. Maybe I dropped it while you were flying."

Appa bellowed. Katara leaned back against the saddle, scratching Momo's enormous ears. "I know it's stupid to obsess over any other jewelry, but- I'm sounding too much like Sokka."

"Katara?"

Katara whipped her head around and saw her brother climbing up the slope, carrying several apples in his arms. Momo stuck its head up and scrambled out of her lap as the girl stood up.

"Hey, where's Aang?" Katara asked, growing rather concerned.

Sokka sighed, aggravated. "He just ran off. I'm a warrior, not a wet-nurse."

Scowling, Katara slid down Appa's tail and approached her older brother, a look likened to an angry tiger upon her face.

"Warrior nothing," she roared, "He's only the world's last and greatest hope! If he gets captured or killed before he fulfils his destiny, it'll be your fault because you didn't want to baby-sit him!"

"Baby-sit who?" Aang asked, standing right behind her with hands behind his back. Katara spun around and knelt down, her fierce anger dissolving into relief.

"Aang," she said in her usual gentle but firm tone, "you shouldn't be wandering off. Where were you?" Just then, Aang held out a bundle of flowers, in bright reds, yellows and violets. Katara stammered, a shocked look upon her face.

"The red ones were being guarded by this really grumpy goat up high," Aang said, beaming, "but I thought you would like it."

"These are for me?" Katara asked, still amazed by the various colors in blooms foreign to her home.

"Yep, for Mother's Day!"

Katara stared at Aang, her mouth contorted into a smile, albeit a puzzled one. "Thank...you."

Aang beamed broadly as Katara reached to take them. However, Appa reached his large molars to them first, pulled them out of Aang's and Katara's grasp, and began chomping loudly on the bouquet. The pair watched dumbstruck as Appa thudded away. Aang turned back to Katara and blushed sheepishly.

"Uh, it was good while it lasted?" he said, turning beet-red. Katara smiled warmly and placed her hand on his shoulder. The boy-monk glowed redder.

"I'll keep them in my memory," Katara said, "the first flowers I've ever seen." Aang grinned. Sokka, watching all this, sighed but with warmth in his tone. He took an apple from his bundle and put it towards his lips, when Momo leapt on his head and grabbed the apple from the teenager's hand.

"Momo!" Sokka swat at the lemur as it screeched and scrambled back on to Appa's back, when something black with a light blue stone fell from his fur. Katara's eye caught it.

"My chocker!" Katara scooped it up and clasped it back around her neck. Aang watched as Sokka chased after the lemur angrily.

"Looks like Momo likes shiny things," Aang observed. "You should have seen him trying to get at Sokka's boomerang at the last stop."

Katara chuckled as Aang joined in, the sounds of the teenage warrior pursuing the chattering lemur.

"One of these days, monkey-rat," Sokka threatened, "You're dinner!"

The End

Disclaimer: I do not own Katara, Sokka, Aang, Appa, or Momo. They belong to Nickelodeon.


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